Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

Conferences are over! Well until the spring that is. I am so very looking forward to tomorrow night because I have no plans other than to work out and watch a movie! It has been a long week of late nights and I’m ready for some couch time. Today I got home and worked out on the treadmill and watched an episode of Star Trek the original series that I have never seen before and I was especially excited for this particular episode. “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” is one of the most iconic of the episodes because of the topics addressed and the visually stunning yet slightly heavy handed make-up on the guest stars. This was a great workout tonight, one of the best I have had in a while. I got to the last 5 minutes of the episode and decided to jog and I kept running for ten minutes even after the show ended. It was fun… WTF is wrong with me for thinking it was fun but it was.

This post is going up a day late I might add because the internet was down this evening at the Olson house.

Treadmill- 322 calories and 2.6miles

Let That Be Your Last Battlefield

The Enterprise is en route to help a planet that is in dire medical attention but they encounter a stolen Starfleet shuttlecraft and bring it aboard. The passenger brought onboard is Black and White, split directly down the middle of his body. Shortly after the Enterprise encounters another ship which deposits a second being that is Black and White, but on opposite sides of his body from the other alien. The new alien Commisioner Bele is a representative from the planet Cheron who has been searching for Lokai, the other alien, for over 50,000 years. The two are mortal enemies and have brought their fight with them aboard the Enterprise. The two men both have extreme powers of control over electronics and electrical fields, thus they are able to control the circuits of the Enterprise at their will. In an attempt to regain control of the ship Kirk and crew initiate the auto-destruct sequence and their ploy works as control is restored and the Enterprise completes its mission to decontaminate the planet. Once the mission is completed Bele regains control of the ship and sends it to Cheron. While en route to Cheron Lokai attempts to gain support from the crew for his cause. Meanwhile Bele discusses the history of his planet with Kirk and Spock. We learn that Lokai and Bele are of different races and that Bele is of the “superior” race on his planet and that Lokai is of the lesser which is considered a plague on their people. The only outward difference between the two is that they are black and white on opposite sides of their faces. When the ship arrives at Cheron it is found in ruins with the entire planet’s population dead. Lokai and Bele begin to fight and both beam down to Cheron to continue their pointless fight.

Yes it is a very obvious story line and yes the make-up is a bit heavy handed but it is still a powerful story about racial tensions, inequality and how hatred unchecked can cause mass destruction. The show features good performances by its guest stars particularly an Emmy nominated performance by Frank Gorshin. Gorshin who is most known for playing the Riddler on TV’s Batman.